warrenzevonfandomcom-20200215-history
Accidentally Like a Martyr
"Accidentally Like a Martyr" is a song by Warren Zevon from his 1978 album, Excitable Boy. About the Song Like many of Zevon's songs about love and relationships, this song is a mournful ballad about romantic loss. The song mostly consists of the singer lamenting about opportunities lost and times long gone. Along with its original release on Excitable Boy, an early rendition of this song appears on the 2007 compilation album Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings. The version included there has a variety of alternate lyrics, changing the song's focus from romantic loss to the singer lamenting how he fell for a cruel heartbreaking woman, against the advice of his friends. A strong contender for the title of Bob Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind is this song, which is coincidentally heavily influenced by Dylan as its title suggests. The phrase is featured in the last line of the second verse. Furthermore, when it was revealed in 2002 that Zevon was dying from cancer, Dylan added for weeks in his concert setlists songs by Zevon. "Accidentally Like A Martyr" was the second most performed song, with 22 performances during October and November. Song Lyrics The phone don't ring And the sun refused to shine Never thought I'd have to pay so dearly For what was already mine For such a long, long time We made mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder The days slide by Should have done, should have done, we all sigh Never thought I'd ever be so lonely After such a long, long time Time out of mind We made mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder Alternate Lyrics Why did I let you get to me again? Get me all confused Can't I ever get it through my head I'm only being used Why did I let you get to me again? Why did I let you in? Knowing that you were only going to nail me up again Making mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder Why did I let you get to me again? And treat me like a fool Sometimes I wonder if you're being deliberately cruel Can't I ever get it through my head It may be time I learned That the greedy just get greedier And the vulnerable get burned Making mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder Why did I give you all the love I had? To squander like you did My friends all shook their heads and sighed Such a naive kid My friends all shook their heads and wished I'd find somebody else And now I'm all alone and feeling sorry for myself Making mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder They were making mad love Shadow love Random love And abandoned love Accidentally like a martyr The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder - Alternate Version from Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings See Also *''Excitable Boy'' *''Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings'' *''A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon'' *''I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology)'' *''Reconsider Me: The Love Songs'' Category:Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings Tracks Category:Warren Zevon Songs Category:Excitable Boy Tracks